


For Rose

by hellostarlight20



Series: Shall We Dance [11]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Mother-Daughter Relationship, NSFW, Romance, Telepathic Sex, Wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 22:07:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7731550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellostarlight20/pseuds/hellostarlight20
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor will do anything for Rose. Anything. Even marry her in an Earth ceremony with 100 of their closest friends and family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For Rose

**Author's Note:**

> NSFW with telepathic sex  
> Thanks to @caedmonfaith for the quick read-through and to @kelkat9 for the maestro reference!  
> Story based on this [manip](http://hellostarlight20.tumblr.com/image/147863843913).

The Doctor took her back to Woman Wept.

It was one of Rose’s favorite places, the frozen waves, a single moment caught in time. Despite the fact the Time War caused Woman Wept’s instantons freeze, one he was, indirectly, responsible for, Rose loved it and insisted it was _their_ planet.

Rose was always quiet when they landed—and it was always them, just the two of them. No Jack, no Mickey, no other companion. Just the two of them and their TARDIS.

There was something in the way she looked at him, watched him as they walked the frozen waters of the world. A soft, intimate look as if this world reminded her they were two souls, locked together in time. Rose always held his hand tighter, leaned her head against his shoulder.

Poured all her love and respect and affection and pride through their bond. Told him with words and touch and love that it wasn’t his fault. As if to remind him of the beauty in this planet, not just the senseless destruction of the war itself.

Now he cleared his throat and waited as she dressed warmly for their current excursion. Warm boots and clothes, sometimes a scarf, those ridiculous ear fluffy warmers. But no gloves.

Rose never wore gloves. Ever.

Whenever they held hands, even on a frozen planet, she always touched his hand with hers, the skin-on-skin contact they held sacred. It flushed through him, warm and loving, understanding and acceptance.

The touch deepened their telepathic connection and joined them more fully than either touch or telepathy alone managed.

The Doctor had dropped Jack off at one of the 51st century pleasure planets he enjoyed with strict instructions not to mention a word of the Doctor’s plans to anyone. Especially Rose. Jack exacted a return promise to pick him up from Triviouls as soon as Rose said yes.

If she said yes. The Doctor—he just didn’t know.

Jack seemed certain.

They talked about it, he and Rose, not he and Jack. Sorta talked about it. Definitely sorta.

Mentioned it, maybe. Once. While dancing at Mickey’s wedding. But that was weeks ago, relative time, and while Mickey and Martha were still on their honeymoon, enjoying all southern Europe had to offer, the Doctor couldn’t let this go.

Didn’t want to.

For Rose, he’d do anything. For Rose, he’d change time and move mountains. Worlds.

“Doctor?” Rose looked up at him and he blinked in surprise. So caught up in his thoughts, memories and plans and hopes, he hadn’t even heard her return. “Ready?”

He grinned at her, the wide, daft grin she loved so much. Rose laughed and took his hand. They walked out of the TARDIS, parked beneath a frozen cresting wave. Hand in his, Rose leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed contentedly.

 _I love it here_ , she said in that soft, telepathic voice that conveyed her happiness. Her love. Her serenity. _It’s like our place, yeah?_ Rose nuzzled her face against his arm.

 _Yeah._ He looked down at her but only saw the top of her head, blonde hair pulled back by her ear warmers, and grinned wider.

Even if his hearts pounded in trepidation.

He tried to block that part from her, but Rose knew him far too well. Despite staying in Mickey and Jackie’s timeline, they’d traveled together for decades. Rose didn’t age, thanks to the Heart of the TARDIS and absorbing the Time Vortex. Despite Bad Wolf, or because of that, the Doctor already put together a little something to keep her up, or her aging compatible, with her Human family.

But that was for another day.

_What is it, Doctor? What’s got you all tangled in knots?_

“Do you remember what you said, Rose?” he asked. Well, nothing like jumping into the question all direct like, eh? The Doctor cleared his throat. “At Mickey’s wedding, do you remember what you said?”

He felt her confusion but she didn’t stop walking or pull back to look at him. “About always wanting sex with you?” She laughed and did stop then, looked straight at him. “What’s this about?”

The Doctor cleared his throat again, looked away from Rose for a moment but barely saw the water life frozen in time. In the back of his head, he heard Jack’s excited shout as they returned to the Abraxian Market where he originally bought Rose’s pendant. Where, this time and with Jack’s help, he bought her a ring as Jack thought he planned to do that first time.

“Marry me.” Not as hard as he feared. In fact, quite easy to say the words.

Rose’s smile froze as still as the waters they walked on. His hearts skipped and his blood ran cold.

“What?”

“Marry me.” Despite all that, even easier the second time. Even with the lump in his throat and the words echoing in his ears.

Rose licked her lips. But she wasn’t running and nothing about her felt as if she were about to say no. Those were good signs, right?

Granted, her emotions were as blank as her mind in that moment—and then they jumbled, raced and jumped over each other. The Doctor had a hard time separating one from another. Even with her love shining brightly over their bond.

“You’re serious.” She let out a little laugh. “I didn’t think—I mean we talked about this and I thought—but you’re serious.”

“Rose Tyler.” He held her hands, had a vague memory of Jack insisting he needed to get on bended knee, but lifted her fingers to his lips instead. Kissing each palm in turn, he tried to order his own thoughts.

He was the Doctor and if there was one thing he could do it was talk. The least his gob should get him now were coherent words in their proper order for the one being in the entirety of creation who meant everything to him.

“You mean the world to me. The universe.” He cleared his throat but didn’t look away. Rose watched him, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. “I can’t imagine my life without you—I can’t imagine I’d have one without you. I need you—you mean—Rose, you’re—”

The Doctor broke off and shook his head. Huffed a little—so much for coherency. Rose stepped closer, and he felt her chaotic emotions as clearly as the frenzied jumble of his own.

Felt the calm, pulsing love underlying everything as smooth and consistent as the hum of his TARDIS.

“I love you.” The words rushed out of him, far, far easier than he ever expected.

Rose’s breath caught at the admission. She knew he loved her, had to know. Had to feel it whenever they touched, made love; he never hid it telepathically but always believed saying the actual words would only end in catastrophe.

Nothing ended.

Everything began.

“I love you more than— _anything_ ,” he admitted. “More than the universe, more than my own life.”

“Don’t say that,” she choked out.

“Marry me.”

“Oh, Doctor, I love you, too. So much.” She closed the distance between them and kissed him. Just a soft, gentle press of her lips to his. “Yes. Of course, yes!”

He let out a shout, a whoop of joy. Picking her up, he spun her around and around. Rose’s laughter echoed off the frozen waves and the wind picked up, embracing them in its cold grip. Almost as if the planet, _their planet_ , approved.

He set her down but she didn’t move away, wound her arms around his shoulders and combed her chilled hands in his hair. He reached in his jacket pocket and took out the ring.

“Oh!” Rose let out a watery laugh. “I didn’t expect a ring.”

“Course,” he scoffed. “Course I got you a ring.” He paused and narrowed his eyes at her. “Why would you think I wouldn’t?”

She shrugged, breathed out a laugh. “I don’t know, it just—” she shook her head. “I don’t know.”

The Doctor snorted. “Gonna do this, gonna do it right.”

Taking her left hand in his, he kissed her palm. Rose let out a giggling sigh but he knew how deeply she treasured both the touch, the contact between them, and the gesture. Then he slid the ring over her finger. Perfect.

He cleared his throat, happiness and love closing his throat, and kissed her fingers just beneath the Calerian titanium band with an exact copy of the pendant he bought her all those years ago.

“It’s beautiful,” she said and looked from the ring to him and back again. “What’s the Gallifreyan say? That’s my name, yeah? And yours?”

“Our names forever bound together,” he whispered, bringing her fingers back to his lips and caressing her bare skin. He loved the fierce vibrancy of her love, the protective embrace of it. The bubbling joy of happiness. “The Doctor, here.” He touched the symbols she recognized with the tip of his finger. “Rose Tyler, here.”

She glanced at them, awe and amazement coloring her telepathic signature. “And here?” she whispered.

“Those,” he said and cupped her face, lips brushing hers, “are our names entwined. Forever.”

Rose leaned up and kissed him, a hard, short kiss. “Forever,” she promised.

He held her close for a few minutes more, letting the cold air embrace them and Rose’s love warm him. Then he took her hand and silently led her home.

When they reentered the TARDIS, She greeted them with a warm, humming embrace. Rose laughed again, a sound he knew he’d never tire of no matter how long they’d been together or how long they had together.

“I think She approves,” Rose giggled.

“Course She does.” The Doctor kissed her again, pressing her against the console. “How can She not?”

“Hmm,” Rose hummed and pulled back just enough so he could see the happiness shining in her gaze. “Let’s go celebrate.”

He took her hand, a perfect fit in his—always—and led her to their bedroom.

She pushed his leather coat off, but the Doctor caught her hands. He wanted to take this slow, wanted to make love to her as she deserved. Wanted to join their minds as well as their bodies. Their very souls.

“Yes,” Rose murmured. Or maybe he just felt her in his mind. In his hearts.

The Doctor kissed down her neck, removing her layers of clothing as he went. He spread her on the bed, knelt before her and simply looked. Drank his fill of his beautiful lover. Her golden hair spread on their dark sheets, a halo around her though they both knew she was no angel.

No she was a very Human woman who saved him. Saved his life, saved his soul, saved his hearts which beat solely for her. His personal angel.

 _You’re in a poetic mood_ , she teased, one hand cupping her breast and teasing the nipple. _Getting engaged brings out the bard in you, eh?_

He had a witty reply or ten on the tip of his tongue, but all he managed was _I love you, Rose Tyler._

She sighed happily and reached for him, kissed him soft and gentle, her emotions pouring into that simple press of her lips. Her pale skin glowed in the dimness of the TARDIS’s coral lighting, smooth and bare and all for him.

The Doctor laid her back on the bed and knelt in front of her. He gazed hungrily at her body, fingers tingling in anticipation, desperate to touch her. Mind already reaching out for hers. Though she long ago learned to barricade her mind from unwanted intrusion, she never blocked him, always welcomed him into the deepest parts of her being.

“Doctor,” she sighed and slid one hand between her legs, bending her knees to tease her already wet curls. Her fingers lazily circled her clit and the beautiful aroma of her arousal scented the air.

The Doctor hurriedly stripped and resumed his position in front of her. Careful not to touch her otherwise, he slid two fingers into her heat and felt her clench around him. Back arched, her fingers rubbed her clit harder, faster, and he watched her eyes close. She gasped for breath and he curled his fingers, hitting the exact spot that made her cry out his true name, the secret between them.

The cliff of her orgasm hung right there. He tasted it in the air, felt it dance along her nerves and through him. He pushed her more, just a little more, watching. Waiting.

“More. Already close. Yes.”

The Doctor withdrew his touch. Her eyes snapped opened and she watched him lick her juices from his fingers, her small whimper all the encouragement he needed.

“Touch me,” Rose begged. “Please, I need you to touch me.”

“I know, my beautiful Rose. Not yet.”

She whimpered and the Doctor felt that desperation within him. He wanted to touch her, he wanted to feel her clench around him. Skin on skin, their telepathic intimacy heightened with their physical touch.

Hands hovering over her thighs, he waited. Watched her. Met her golden gaze and slowly joined their mind together. Reached out his mind to hers and entwined their essences. It was easy now, so simple to become one. He didn’t touch the pleasure centers in her mind any more than he already did. Didn’t need to.

Simply wove their separate beings together, a tight singular tapestry, and opened himself to all Rose was—all she offered him, all she wanted from him. His touch became hers, his arousal hers, his very soul hers. All she was belonged to him as well.

Her love caressed his mind, warm and constant. Her arousal teased him as well, bright and golden. The Doctor opened himself even further to her.

He gasped at the contact, at the caress of his lover, his love. Shuddered at the feel of her kissing him but not yet touching him. He slowed his heartsbeat until they matched hers, until they breathed in tandem. One breath in, one breath out. Minds-souls-hearts together.

“Rose,” he growled.

Whether it was aloud or through their connection didn’t matter. All that mattered was Rose surrounding him, Rose with him. Rose’s love. Her constant need for him, her acceptance and empathy.

And right now her arousal.

It speared through him like a lance, sharp and hot and clawing. It overtook his senses, shredded his control.

Then he felt it, the desperate throbbing of her clit, the clawing need to touch her nipples, tease and pinch them. Tasted her skin as if he kissed his way up her inner thigh to her wet pussy that ached for his cock.

“Yes,” she breathed. Her eyes slid closed, mouth open, tongue flicking along her lips. Because she, too, tasted him though they barely touched. “Oh, Doctor, yes. More. I want to feel the electricity. I want to feel it even as you fuck me.”

He shuddered at her words, her thoughts, creating a vivid imagery painted between them. The tight need pounding in him and tearing at his control to do just that. But the Doctor stayed perfectly still, hands hovering over her skin until the first spark of need leapt between them.

Felt her energy signature, so unique and so familiar to him, brush against the palms of his hands.

He didn’t move, didn’t actually touch Rose. Simply let the electricity, the golden glow of her aura, her very essence, build until it leaped from her to him. Until he felt her, felt her desperate, pulsing need coiling within. 

They’d discovered they could make love like this long after they became lovers. It was an experiment of sorts, a way to keep things fresh. They used the electrical energy in each of their bodies and transformed it into telepathic energy.

When they made love, their telepathic connection morphed. Transformed into something _more_. Outside their individual bodies, even outside their telepathic bond, this _more_ encompassed both the corporeal and the ethereal, the body and the mind and the spirit.

He ran his hands over her skin, not touching, not physically. They hovered scant centimeters over Rose’s beautiful, supple flesh and the Doctor jolted, hissed out a breath. The energy, the electricity from her body, leaped to make contact with his.

Jaw clenched, he held onto his control by a mere thread. He wanted to prolong her own arousal, watch her climax, her body wound so tight she cried out and screamed his name. But he never lasted long. Not with his cock hard and aching for Rose, for the power between them when they finally made love.

She sucked in a breath, heart racing in time to his, her still-Human body gorgeously hot. His own hearts raced to stay in time with hers, and even with his respiratory-bypass, the Doctor shuddered. His cock ached, hard and weeping, and he hadn’t even touched her.

“Doctor,” she cried.

Eyes locked on his, she reached for him. He growled, stilling her. Rose obediently dropped her hands to the bedding, fingers curling in the sheets.

“This is why I always tie you up, my Rose,” he whispered, breath just brushing over her skin. She gasped and arched into his phantom touch, into the golden sparks between them. “No touching.”

She shuddered and the electricity sizzled brighter. “I thought it was because you like being the Dom,” she gasped out. “Because you like it when you control me.”

“Yes,” he breathed. “There’s that, too. You’re so beautiful when you’re at my mercy, when I watch you come over and over until you beg for release.”

“Fuck, Doctor,” Rose cried. Her skin flowed with energy, the golden hue of it captivated him. The electricity rippled over her skin, made the hairs on her arms, the neatly trimmed curls hiding her pussy from him, all stand on end. “Yes. Make me beg. Please, love, make me. Make me come.”

“Oh, my Rose,” he whispered and blew a puff of air against her pussy. Rose cried out again. Shuddering, her breath caught, and still her body reached for more. “I will. Always.”

Her arousal tasted like her, all golden power and endless Time. The Doctor breathed in deeply, tongue flicking out to taste the ambrosia that permeated the air. Rose whimpered, fingers curled in the bedding so tight her knuckles whitened.

“Spread your legs,” he ordered. “I want to see you.”

She did as commanded, and he moved his hands up, his almost-touch a slow sweep along her inner thighs, her hips, the slight curve of her belly. At her breasts, he stilled, moving his hands in a tight circle over her nipples.

He the conductor, Rose his orchestra playing out their own personal erotic masterpiece.

Her strangle cry shot through him. Back curved, Rose struggled closer, but he knew this move all too well and kept his hands just above her flesh. His eyesight narrowed to include only Rose, only his magnificent lover. Sparks of golden electricity jumped between his hands and her nipples, making the already hard peaks larger, harder.

“Yes, Doctor, more!”

Hips jerking up to meet his, Rose gasped and moaned. All but lifted her body off the bed. Just to touch him, to feel their telepathic touch bind them. Jaw clenched, he watched her; he wanted to close his eyes to better focus on the arousal coiling through her—the golden thread that wound through her body, tighter and tighter.

“Doctor,” she gasped, not quiet at all.

He never wanted her to be quiet, wanted to hear her pleasure as well as feel it around him. Taste it, smell it, see her as she came. Again and again. Breathing heavy, legs spread wide for his gaze, begging for his caress, she looked utterly wanton.

“Stay still, my beautiful Rose,” the Doctor growled, control on a razor’s edge. “I want to watch you come this way. I want to see our beautiful energy spark along your skin. I want to hear you cry out.”

“Close,” she sobbed. Her eyes opened again, locked on his. “Move,” she managed through gasping breaths, but he knew what she wanted.

Slowly, movements incremental, the Doctor spread his fingers wide over her left breast, the more sensitive of the two, and, just as deliberately, eased his other hand down her body. Along her ribs, over her hip, up one inner thigh and down the other.

He didn’t touch her clit, not like this with so much literal electricity flowing from her to him and back again. Though he did wonder how her body would react. But not today, one day when they felt like experimenting. Today was for merging their souls, deepening their bond.

So he moved his hand as close to her pussy as he dared and watched Rose climax. She cried out, body arching closer—always closer to his touch. Her fingers clenched the bedding and her heels dug into the mattress.

More, more, he heard, though Rose was lost in the electricity between them, in the crash of her orgasm as it consumed her.

“You’re beautiful, my Rose,” he said, awed at the perfection before him as she came, again and again. Cried out, begged for more. “So beautiful. All mine.”

“Yes!” Rose sobbed, a breathless sound nearly lost in her wordless moans.

He continued to slowly move his fingers, one hand against her hard nipple, the other up her inner thigh, ever closer to her pussy.

“Doctor!” she screamed.

Immediately he withdrew his hands, did his best to stop the electrical transfer and dispel the energy flowing between them. And finally, finally he touched her. Placed his hands on her, the telepathic wonder of their contact flowing between them.

The Doctor grunted, scrambled for control but know it was out of his reach. Rose cried out again, hips jerking up, meeting his, and he wasted no time grasping his aching cock and slipping into her clenching wetness.

“Rose. My Rose.” He sighed in relief at the feel of Rose around him. Welcoming him home.

The Doctor wanted to take his time, but she whimpered his name, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her legs about his waist and the physical contact drove him over the edge.

“Look at me, Rose” he demanded—or maybe thought to her.

She did so, however they communicated, and the Doctor moved. Thrust into her, hard and fast and he was so damn close he tasted it. Rose came again, climax rushing through her until she clung to him, spent and exhausted, and so sensitive. It didn’t take long before his own orgasm raced up his spine and he climaxed, emptied himself in her. Completely.

When he could move again, the Doctor blinked open heavy eyelids and found Rose gazing lazily at him through half-closed eyes.

“I love when you do that,” she whispered, voice hoarse. “Makes me feel even closer to you. Like our souls are joined, not only our minds or bodies.”

“I love you,” the Doctor said, surprised how easily the words came after resisting them for so long. “Forever.”

Rose closed her eyes and found his hand, twining their fingers together as surely as they entwined their lives. Their love. She didn’t move, and he was far too spent to gather her sweaty body close. The Doctor moved his head enough to rest his cheek on her belly, hand in hers, and closed his eyes.

“Forever,” Rose whispered and he heard the smile in her voice. “No matter what.”  
********  
“Mum, no.” Rose sighed and wondered why either of them thought actually having a wedding was a good idea.

 _We could’ve just pretended_ , she grumbled to the Doctor from her spot on the couch. She opened an eye to meet his. _Wore the rings and told everyone we got married._

The Doctor snorted. _And have your mum in an even worse dither than this?_ He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall.

Rose huffed out a breath and sat up. She glared at her mother, who looked back with equal stubbornness.

“Rose—”

“ _No, Mum_. We are not having a church wedding.” Rose held up a hand when Jackie went to protest again. “When was the last time either of us set foot in a church?”

Jackie glowered harder. But she had no answer other than the last wedding either of them went to. Rose barely remembered that one, she’d been 11. 

“All I want is a nice, simple celebration with a few family and friends. Is that so much to ask?”

“What about your cousins?” Jackie demanded.

“Whom I haven’t seen in ages?” Rose raised an eyebrow.

Jackie huffed then tried, “And your aunts, your Gran?”

“None of whom have offered to help one damn bit since Dad died?” Rose demanded. “None of whom bothered to help you when I went—when you thought I was missing that year? Not exactly the supportive bunch. Except Cousin Mo,” she allowed.

She hated bringing that year up, it still hurt both of them. Even if it was decades in the past for Rose, she hated they inadvertently hurt her mum like that. Because of that, Rose made it a point to keep to Jackie’s timeline as much as possible despite it being weeks or months between visits for her.

In Jackie’s time, they had tea once a week, big family dinners monthly with Mickey and now Martha, sometimes with Sarah Jane and her new family; they always celebrated holidays like Christmas and Easter, Mothering Day, and even a couple Halloween parties.

Once they even celebrated Shakespeare Day and spent the day in Stratford-Upon-Avon. They took the TARDIS and dressed up, wandered around, saw a play performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. And then Jackie and Jack got caught in a time storm.

The two of them repeated the same three hours incessantly where all they managed to do was snip at each other. In that same time storm, she and Mickey had been thrown back in time to 1599 England and met the real Shakespeare. They’d needed to leave a message for the Doctor in one of Shakespeare’s plays so they could get home. And Martha and the Doctor ended up fighting a trio of ancient witches who wanted to use Shakespeare’s words to bring about some new world order.

All in all, a pretty typical day for them.

Even though her mum loved it, and fought like hell to make sure Jack and she were safe, despite the snipping, Jackie vowed never to set foot in the TARDIS again. Not that it was the TARDIS’s fault. Still, a wonderful day.

Now, Jackie glowered but had no response to Rose’s latest rebuff. She sat up and leaned across the couch, willing her mum to understand.

“Mum,” she said evenly, patience thin, “we just want a celebration. Nothing pomp and circumstance-like, just a nice time, good food, good drinks, good company.”

“I still want—”

“Mum!” Rose shouted and stood, her thread of patience snapping. “No! This isn’t about what _you_ want, this is about what me and the Doctor want! And we don’t want a church wedding nor do we want some fancy and way too expensive country club venue. Got it?”

She stormed out of the flat and up to the roof. Breathing deeply, she looked out over London and tried to calm herself. This ‘discussion’ between she and Jackie had been going on way too long. At first Rose let her mum have her way, after all what difference did it make to her?

But then the guest list grew to over 300 and the price tag multiplied exponentially and people Rose had never even heard of started popping up in conversation. It was too much and it needed to stop. Unfortunately, Jackie was just as stubborn as she. Really, Rose should’ve stopped it long ago.

Mickey had, after all, warned her about the—what did he call it? _The Jackie Wedding Explosion._

Rose sighed and scrubbed her fingers along her scalp, hoping to ease the tension pounding between her eyes. It didn’t really work, but it eased her shoulders slightly. Closing her eyes against the wind, she tilted her chin up and let the early spring sunlight warm her face.

It didn’t take long before she felt the Doctor reach out for her, though it surprised Rose he hadn’t followed her up. 

_I love you._

Rose sighed and leaned against the barrier separating the roof and a five story drop. He didn’t say it often, she suspected the words themselves still worried him. As if they had the power to destroy instead of heal.

_Enough to make it through all this? She only half joked._

_Rose Tyler._ And the affection, the fondness in those words warmed her clear through. The way he said her name always had, from the first. And even when he hadn’t said he loved her in so many words, she knew every time his voice caressed her name how much he truly did.

_I love you, too, my Doctor._

“Rose.”

Rose didn’t sigh, she wasn’t surprised her mum followed her. She looked over her shoulder to where Jackie stood, half defiant, half uncertain and sighed again. Seriously, Rose felt as if the only thing she did these days was sigh—this whole wedding thing was for the birds.

“I just want the best for you, Rose.”

“I know.” She turned and looked at her mum, wondering how long it’d been in Jackie’s timeline since Rose started traveling with the Doctor. “But I don’t want all that. You _know_ I don’t. We talked about it when I asked you to help plan the wedding.”

“But this is the only time I’ll—”

“Mum!” Rose shouted. “Do you even hear yourself?”

Jackie’s lips pursed. “I just want you to have the best wedding possible, Rose.”

“And I just want something simple and small, Mum.” Rose crossed the roof and took her mum’s hand. “I haven’t talked with the family in years, long before I traveled with the Doctor. And you haven’t spoken to anyone but Cousin Mo in years, either, admit it.”

Rose left out the part about how Jackie never talked to Gran Prentice, either. It was a painful subject. But then hadn’t Jackie said Gran was in a home now? Maybe things changed, not that Jackie ever said.

“I don’t want family I don’t talk to and who don’t support you at our wedding,” Rose insisted. “And I don’t want to invite them just so you can show off! Mum, we just want something small. UNIT will be there,” she reminded Jackie.

Who huffed and nodded. 

“And Francine, of course. The two of you got on well, yeah?”

Jackie nodded again and Rose watched some of the tension drain from her. “And Doris, too. I know the Doctor specifically invited her and Allister. We can’t have a bunch of people who don’t know about us be there. You know we can’t.”

“I know, Rose.” Jackie cupped her cheek and looked at her fondly. “I just want you to be happy.”

“I am, you know I am. And a small wedding at a reasonably priced place will make me very happy.”

“My baby girl,” Jackie sniffled. “I can’t believe you’re getting married!”

Rose grinned and let her change the subject. She slipped her arm through Jackie’s and guided her off the roof. “Who knew, eh?”

The Doctor didn’t even bother to hide his smugness. Rose mentally stuck her tongue out at him and laughed. Wedding details aside, she truly was happy. So very happy.

 ********  
“I’ve known her longer!” Mickey insisted. Then he paused and shook his head. “No, I don’t want to really know how long you’ve traveled together. Don’t tell me.” He shook his finger at Jack. “And don’t tell Jackie, either, if you don’t want to permanently die!”

Jack shuddered and vehemently shook his head.

“I’ve known her—” Mickey continued and spluttered a moment—“I knew her _first_.”

Rose sighed and flopped onto the couch face first. She groaned and pulled a throw pillow over her head. It did nothing to block out the argument.

“Listen up, Mickey—”

 _Budge over, Rose._ The Doctor pulled the pillow off her head and helped her sit up. _Stop being so dramatic._

 _I’m not the one being dramatic!_ Rose whined and glared at Mickey and Jack. Who ignored her.

_They are being a bit over the top, he conceded._

The Doctor pulled her close and leaned his head against the back of the couch. Rose snuggled against him and tried to bury herself in his maroon jumper. It did not block out the argument.

The five of them were having dinner—Martha offered to cook, Jack offered to help, the Doctor dug out several gorgeous bottles of wine from the TARDIS cellar (well, relative cellar, same thing, really) and Mickey bought dessert from a bakery around the corner from their flat.

Rose offered to set the table and clean up. All these years, and she still hated to cook.

“And we were having such a good time,” she groaned. Neither man heard her over their bickering.

“Forget it, Mickey Mouse,” Jack shot back. “I’m her Best Man.”

“No way, Captain Cheesecake,” Mickey immediately shot back.

 _Told you_ , the Doctor smirked over their bond. Rose ignored him.

“Stop!” Rose shot up, annoyed, tired of constant wedding talk, and fed up with her two friends. She deftly ignored the Doctor’s knowing smirk and glared at the men. “Martha!” She said way too loud considering the other woman sat opposite her. Rose grinned, it felt only slightly manic, and nodded.

“Would you like to be my Woman of Honor? Stand up for me at the wedding?” Rose leaned across the coffee table and begged. _“Please?”_

Martha, who seemed to find the entire thing entirely too funny, sobered. “What? Really?”

Rose nodded again, less crazily and more empathically. “Yes. Not just because these two—” she chucked her thumb over her shoulder but didn’t bother looking at Jack or Mickey—“are impossible. I truly want you to stand up for me at our wedding.”

“Oh.” Martha blinked again, already nodding. “Yes. Yes, Rose, I’d love to.”

“Perfect!” Rose stood and rounded the coffee table to hug her friend. “Thank you, I mean it.” Rose looked at her seriously. “And not just because of those two. I was going to ask you anyway, you and Sarah Jane.”

Martha smiled. “They can be a bit much.” She glanced at her husband. “But I truly am honored.”

“You’re a good friend, Martha.” Rose smiled then louder said, “There. That’s settled.”

Jack and Mickey looked sincerely upset at this, but did not grumble. Well, didn’t grumble much. Rose gave them points for that.

“You lot can stand up with me,” the Doctor said, surprising them into speechlessness. Nope, he won all the points for that foray. “Might as well, I suppose.”

Rose smiled at him, her heart beating a little louder, her throat a little tight. Oh, she loved this man.

 ********  
“Mum,” Rose said slowly and clearly.

Jackie only sighed. “It’s tradition,” she insisted but it lacked bite.

“That I not only _don’t_ understand,” Rose said in that same slow and even voice. “But one that makes no sense!”

 _Unless it’s to stop the happy couple from running off and eloping_ she added to the Doctor who remained uncharacteristically quiet. He did snort at that, however.

“I’m not spending the night away from him.”

“Of course you’re not,” Jackie grumbled. “One tradition, that’s all I ask.”

 _“No.”_ Rose turned and walked into the kitchen. She needed a cup of tea or a bag of chocolate or a very tall glass of wine.

“I don’t see why—” Jackie started.

And her mum had been doing so well, too. Listening to what they wanted, going all out to give her the wedding _she_ envisioned not just what Jackie thought they should show the neighbors and family neither of them talked to any more. They’d had fun finding a simple white dress for her and a much fancier mother-of-the-bride dress for Jackie.

But if that’s what she wanted, Rose wasn’t stopping her.

After that initial fight, months ago now in Jackie’s timeline, they’d enjoyed planning the wedding, laughing over some of the ostentatious decorations and centerpieces and cakes in the bridal magazines.

Until tonight. The night before the big day.

“Jackie,” Rose heard the Doctor say. His voice was low but she was so attuned to him, it didn’t matter. “Rose isn’t doing this to upset you,” he chided. “You should know better.”

Her mum huffed but clearly didn’t give an inch.

“Do you know the reason behind this stupid little tradition of yours?” The Doctor asked in that familiar tone of imparting information. Rose warmed at that tone, she loved it. 

“The father of the bride,” the Doctor said, “was afraid the wealthy groom he made the business arrangement with might find the bride, his daughter, unattractive and call the whole wedding off. That’d cast shame onto the bride and her family—very humiliating for everyone involved. So this little tradition of yours means that I, as the groom, might find Rose unattractive and not want to marry her.”

Rose listened, stunned. That’s where that stupid tradition came from? Humph. Stupid. She was right.

“You won’t call off the wedding,” Jackie said confidently.

“Course not,” he scoffed. It lacked any real sting. “But that’s not why Rose won’t leave me tonight.”

“Why, then?” her mum asked, and sounded far more receptive to an answer than she had five minutes ago.

_Doctor…don’t._

He ignored her. Well, not ignored, he embraced her in his mental signature, a soft hug that tingled along her skin. But he continued to speak anyway.

“Because I still have nightmares,” he admitted.

His voice caught and when he spoke again it sounded more like nails on concrete than the normal tones she loved. Her heart hurt at the sound of those words.

 _Doctor…_ Even her telepathic voice sounded choked up but Rose didn’t care. She just wanted to stop him or comfort him or hold him. All three.

“Horrible terrors,” he continued in that hard, rough voice that scraped along her heart and hurt her soul. “Ones that come to life and threaten to choke me. Rose is the only one who can bring me out of them.”

Rose closed her eyes. She protected him so fiercely from everyone—her mum included. She never told Sarah Jane who traveled with the Doctor or Jack who continued to travel with them even now about his nightmares.

About the screams and mindless horror. About the blood he still believed coated his hands. About the images he inadvertently let slip through their bond. Those images terrified her, kept her awake and made her sob with fear—and the Doctor’s pain.

She couldn’t imagine witnessing them first hand.

Or about the times, many over the years they traveled together, when he nearly strangled her. So caught up in the nightmares of the fall of Arcadia or those final moments or any number of other horrors he witnessed on the front lines that he didn’t know where he was or, even more terrifying, who she was.

“Of that war?” Jackie asked, voice a breath of a whisper Rose strained to hear. “That one you fought against those Daleks things?”

“Yeah.”

Rose whipped a tear from her cheek. She’d do anything to protect him from revealing that. She’d lie to her mum, her friends, the TARDIS Herself to keep her Doctor safe. To keep him from having to reveal the true extent of what he’d done and how it still affected him.

“I’m sorry,” Jackie whispered so sincerely, another tear slipped free from Rose’s control.

Rose peeked out of the kitchen, chocolate and wine forgotten, and saw Jackie hug the Doctor. She tried not to giggle. Grabbing a tissue, she blew her nose and rejoined them.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Jackie said and hugged her.

“I know, Mum.” Rose hugged her tight then pulled back. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, sweetheart.” Jackie sniffed and kissed her cheek. “And I really am happy for you. Both of you.”

“Thanks.” Rose grinned. “We’ll be in the TARDIS and I promise we’ll be up first thing in the morning to get ready for this thing!”

“Goodnight, Rose.” Jackie nodded and kissed her cheek again. She did the same to the Doctor who bore it stoically. “Night, Doctor.”

Rose took his hand and led him into their home. He held her hand a little tighter, pulled her closer. Rose didn’t protest, snuggled into his side. Nowhere else she’d rather be.

“You didn’t have to tell her,” she said as they entered the TARDIS.

“She’s your mum,” he said, fingers flexing around hers. “No sense being mad at her. Not over me.”

“Doctor,” Rose sighed and hugged him tight. “I’d do anything for you. Don’t you know that by now?”

He looked at her in awe and shook his head. “It surprises me every single day.”

“That I love you?”

He nodded. “That you can love someone like me.”

“Until the day we both die and even beyond that,” Rose promised. Then she grinned and kissed him. “Come on. Take me to bed. Big day tomorrow!”

 ********  
The day of their wedding—with a hundred of their closest friends and family and coworkers—finally arrived. Rose couldn’t wait, excited, joyous, and not one bit nervous. She already promised that man she’d spend the rest of her (admittedly long, long) life with him.

This was merely a formality, a ceremony. A party, even.

“Not nervous?” Martha asked as they stood in the alcove waiting for the judge to arrive.

“Nope!” Rose turned to her Woman of Honor, a term she picked up at a 2069 wedding they accidently crashed in search of Jack’s supposedly dead brother. Grey wasn’t dead—nor was he at that wedding, though they did meet Jack’s old partner and lover. A sexy, if psychotic, man John Hart was.

“Excited. Happy.” She laughed. “Very happy!”

“You look amazing, Rose,” Sarah Jane said sincerely. She adjusted the pink rose circlet on Rose’s head and smiled. “The Doctor will be stunned speechless.”

“Speechless!” Martha laughed. “That I’d like to see.”

“Sweetheart,” Jackie said, teary-eyed and grinning widely, “it’s time.”

Martha hugged her. “I’m very happy for you.”

Sarah Jane did the same. “You’re more than a match for him, and I’m so thankful and honored you asked me to be a part of your wedding.”

“Thank you,” Rose said, holding one of each of their hands in hers. “Both of you. For being my friends, for doing this with me. For being great women.”

She sniffed and Jackie tutted. The other women took their places, leaving her and her mum.

“When you ran off with the Doctor,” Jackie said and dabbed Rose’s makeup, “I never thought you’d be marrying him all these years later.”

“I didn’t either,” Rose admitted. “But I can’t see my life as anything different.”

Jackie sighed. “I can’t either. You were always meant to do this.” She hugged her tight. “I’m so proud of you, Rose.”

“I love you, Mum. So much.”

“Now then. Ready to get this things started?”

“More than ready,” Rose agreed.

She confidently walked out of the anteroom in the modest country club Jackie booked. The doors to the main room opened and Sarah Jane and Martha walked down the makeshift aisle. Rose nearly tripped over her heels when she saw the men.

They hadn’t shared what sorts of tuxes the Doctor decided on, and Rose figured it was the typical black tux she loved on him—and loved taking off him.

It was not.

He, Mickey, and Jack were gorgeous old-fashioned things—top hat, golden cravat and matching gloves, buttoned-up waistcoat and all. Oh, wow, he was gorgeous. Like mouth-watering gorgeous. A bolt of electric arousal tingled along her skin.

 _I’m glad you approve_ , the Doctor said, his grin wide and happy.

_Dear God, Doctor, I want to jump you right here._

_Not opposed_ , he said back, his grin totally filthy now. _But your mum is here. Rather not._

Rose somehow made it down the aisle. When the Doctor took her hand, he’d taken off his gloves. Shame that, she really loved the gloves. But his touch was far more important, and with his touch arousal and love and belonging shivered through her.

“I love you,” Rose said and kissed him before the judge even started.

“And I love you, Rose Tyler,” the Doctor said, lips lingering against hers. “Forever.”

They turned to the judge, who grinned at them, and waited for her to begin.

 _You’re right_ , Rose said as the woman cut right to the chase. _It was all worth it._


End file.
